Tag Archives: Saving

Before you spend, earn.
Before you invest, investigate.
Before you quit, try.
Before you retire, save.

– William Arthur Ward

The Magic Number

Whole books have been written about how much money is needed to retire. Many websites have retirement calculators that will tell you how much you need to retire. This is the so-called magic number – the net worth you will need to retire. Based on this number, many calculators will even tell you how much you should be saving for retirement or how much you should be contributing to your (subsidized) savings plan. Other apps will calculate your retirement risk. They may calculate the odds that you will run out of money in retirement by a certain age, or they may tell you what investment mix provides the optimal risk for you. In order to properly discuss the magic number, we will need a little background information.

Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.

— John Maynard Keynes

We suppose that when most people are presented with “price segmentation” as the stimulus, no synapses fire in the brain. At best, a few people may have a vague recollection of some concept from a marketing course long forgotten. This is an unfortunate state of affairs and the purpose of this article is to show the importance of price segmentation to the average consumer.

The problem with financial education is that it is not taught in schools. So usually parents teach. Unless your parents are in the top 1%, they usually teach how to be poor. Not because they do not love you – they just do not know what they are teaching. They do not read books like “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki and learn how to work with money.

Starbucks CoffeeYesterday we were reading one typical blog post where someone discussed how he had exit the consumerism. As proof, the blogger does not purchase daily morning coffee at Starbucks for €4 like his colleagues anymore. The article was mainly about how the money saved from not buying coffee will produce gobs of money that will eventually enable him to retire early. Is this the right way to think about delayed spending?

Starting Point
To be financial independent, you must accumulate wealth to let is work for you. Obvious way to do this is to save money by spending less money than you earn. That is not the only way to do so (eventually not even the best way). But, it is the most straightforward method. Based on that, main focus should be on income.

We dreamed for years about financial independence. While there were times we did enjoy working, we never did feel like we fit into corporate life. Partly, we did not like the lack of control, the games that were played and the repetition of movements and tasks. But mostly, the problem was that work interfered too much with the other things we wanted to do in life. Imagine that!

Some Lovely Thoughts
Unusual people live economically, below their means, work hard, save bulks of their income and pursue financial independence aggressively with a sophisticated investment strategy. However, other people work and spend their money for expensive new cars or nice watches. They are not able to build up net worth, sacrifices are too large because of binding habits and social conventions. So, does economical living makes people really free?

Welcome to Eternal Yield! Thank you for coming by. Please share you thoughts and comments with us and have a good time. You will find here short pointy businesslike stock evaluations, which are in line with our long-term buy-and-hold strategy. This blog lives through critiscm, so we encourage readers to comment (anonymous also possible). Today we get started with a story about the relationship between capital and time.

The Parable of the Mexican FishermanA boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. “Not very long,” answered the Mexican. “But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American. The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family. The American asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?” “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs … I have a full life.”

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